What makes this novel one of the best-written Trek novels in the past couple of years is Thorne's strong use of imagery and emphasis on the characters. For the first time in this series, a flow chart is not needed to keep track of who's who. That's not to say that the first three Titan novels were bad - in fact I gave each of them three stars. Thorne takes these characters and creates realistic and interesting ones that I want to read more about. So much so, that I was disappointed the novel was not longer. Truthfully, considering the fascinating storyline, it could have easily been two novels without sacrificing anything.